Boys’ Night In
by streco
Summary: Bella's off to dinner and a movie with Charlie tonight, and Esme gets a bright idea: for the boys to have a boys' night! Edward doesn't want to cooperate but eventually gives in. God only knows what will happen when he is exposed to the world of XBOX.
1. It Begins

Wreaking havoc is something I love to do. Wreaking havoc in the Cullen household through Edward's point of view is something I live for. What can I say? I'm an easy-to-please girl.

Boys' Night In

Tonight happened to be one of those rarities when Charlie actually assumed the role of a responsible parent, or so _I _believed. He neglected Bella to an alarming degree, but I suppose it couldn't be considered neglecting when it was something they both wanted. Both Bella and Charlie had no problem with seeing each other twice a day, doing their own things. When my parents had been alive, we'd spent a lot more time together.

Of course, I hadn't had someone like Bella in my life then, which could be the difference here. I spent a lot of time—too much time, possibly, but I enjoyed every millisecond of it—with Bella, and Charlie didn't particularly enjoy that. However, tonight, the two of them were going out for dinner, and then possibly going to see a movie in Port Angeles, and though Bella hadn't seen externally excited about it, I knew that somewhere in her mind she was thrilled.

"You haven't spent time with Charlie since I stumbled around," I had mused.

"I didn't _before_," she defended herself, fluffing her hair in the mirror.

"Bella… I think you should at least _pretend _you're enjoying yourself, for Charlie's sake." I walked over to her and put my arms on her shoulders, smiling as my eyes met hers in the reflection. She blushed.

"I will. Don't get into too much trouble while I'm gone," she ordered, and laughed, kissing me. "Spend some quality time with the fam. Go hunting."

I shook my head. "Went yesterday, remember?" It had been an almost emergency hunt, and we'd drank more blood than necessary, so the last thing I needed to go was kill off more of the wildlife in Forks. "I'll do something. I survive every sunny day without you, don't I?"

Her expression was amused. "Oh, please. Alice has told me what you do." She closed her eyes, and when she opened them, I could tell she was imitating me. "'Why, _Alice_,'" she said in her best copy of my voice, adding in the light British accent and everything, "'you are being utterly _absurd. _Why can I not visit Bella in her class? I shall simply adorn myself in a cape, and pretend I am Batman for the day. The sunlight shall never brush my skin. If the students _do _manage to catch a glimpse of my Bedazzled self, I shall simply erase it all from their memories with my breath that resembles dopey shampoo commercials. I am invincible, and I will crack them over the skull with rocks if they do not believe me. It is a flawless plan, and thine ears shall not disagree!'" She rolled her eyes and stalked over to her dresser, searching for a necklace that she'd deposited there.

When she was done, I burst into uproarious hysterics, unable to contain myself. So that was how Bella really saw me, hmm? "Yes, Bella. You are perfectly correct. That's how I behave when you aren't around. I'm very sorry. Do you still love me?" I did my best puppy dog eyes, and she frowned, clearly unable to resist my 'cuteness.'

"I'm going. Maybe I won't come back." She turned and, kicking up her leg, walked down the stairs, not turning around. I chuckled to myself and launched myself out the window, meeting her at her front door. Escorting her to Charlie's cruiser, where he was waiting, I offered a feeble wave and got into my own Volvo, grinning as she drove away.

The grin fell off my face as soon as she was out of view. Great. Now I had until roughly midnight to entertain myself, and go home to a house full of _vampires_. I shivered at the thought… and then laughed at myself. My humor was only entertaining when someone else was around to laugh at it.

I made it home in a flash, parked the Volvo, and entered my house, afraid of what was going to meet me. I instantly tuned in on the thoughts of my family, searching for any sense of teasing that I'd have to deal with.

_Why is my mirror broken? _

Rosalie. I sighed. The little things that managed to agitate her.

_Hmm. I'm seeing Bella going to a movie with Charlie and being hit on by some guys, and Charlie threatening to shoot them… I wonder how Edward would take that. I wonder how he's going to take tonight, too, without being around her. Watching her sleep. I wonder—um… hey, Edward._

Gritting my teeth at her train of thought, and watching the vision unfold in my own mind, I struggled to find words. "Hey, Alice."

_Ooh, hey hey heeeey, Eddyboy's home! I wonder what he'll do while Bella's out… or, at least that's what _Alice _said… I wonder. Hmm. When's the last time I challenged him to an arm wrestle? I bet I smoked him last time. Bet I still could, too. Hmm. Or… maybe—hmm…_

Emmett's thoughts trailed off in that general process, so I tuned him out. I couldn't find Jasper's thoughts too well.

_He went hunting in Montana, _Alice thought, clearly knowing what I was searching for. She came in view on the winding staircase, waving a bit at me as she continued to descend. _Esme went with him, simply because she felt like she hadn't spent a lot of time with him recently. You know how Esme is. _

I smiled and nodded.

She exhaled. "Emmett's going to come barging in a few seconds."

I nodded again. "I know."

As we'd both suspected, he ran into the living room and launched himself onto the couch, doing a belly flop worthy of a prize of some sort. "Eeeeeeeeddddddddyyyyyy!" he mumbled into a pillow, and I felt my anger begin to boil. Had Jasper been here, it would've made everything easier, but my anger usually got the best of me.

"Jasper should be home soon enough," she reassured me, reading my thoughts by my face. "He left earlier today, when you were still with Bella. He's on his way back now; I see it. Carlisle's coming home from the hospital, too—you guys should do something together. Have a boys' night."

I cringed at the very thought. Boys' night. Right. It was difficult to spend any time at all when Jasper and Emmett were within inches of each other. Many people believe that Jasper is a quiet person, but that's not so. He keeps to himself around others, but he's forever twenty… what do you expect? Emmett's forever six, as far as I'm concerned, and one personality compliments the other.

Which means it does _not _compliment me.

Part of me wishes I could be like them: carefree, silly at times, a child. I _was _the youngest out of them all, but I never acted it. I'm like Bella in that. For example: when Bella told Renée that we were getting married, her mother accepted this. She always joked that Bella never was a teenager—she was always middle-aged. I was, and still am, quite the same way.

I found it difficult to relate with my brothers, but when I did, I had a lot of fun. So maybe I'd try to cooperate tonight. Just for the girls. Maybe I'd have fun.

Taking a glance at Emmett, who was trying to lick his elbow, I doubted this.

As Alice had seen, Carlisle walked through the door swiftly, followed instantly by Jasper and Esme. My father pivoted and swooped Esme into his arms, placing a tender kiss on his lips. She smiled softly up at him and ran a hand across his cheek. I butted out of their thoughts and focused on golden-eyed Jasper, who instantly relieved the tension I was feeling about the evening.

"Welcome home, Doctor," Emmett saluted Carlisle, who grinned in return.

"Thank you, Emmett. What's going on for tonight? Where is Bella?" he questioned, looking at me.

I sighed. "Out with her father for the night… for the first time in a few years, I'm sure. She left me here to entertain myself."

"I think they should have a boys' night," Alice put in, and Esme quickly agreed.

"Oh, yes! You should—please? It would be so nice; all my boys finally spending some time together. It's so rare that it happens, you know? Oh, yes, that's a wonderful idea. You guys could watch sports, or play video games, or—" Her gushing was ended abruptly.

"Esme?" Jasper easily interrupted, but his gaze was still on Emmett. Her eyes were alight, but then she realized what they were doing. She narrowed her eyes teasingly, and sighed.

"Fine, boys. I won't be enthusiastic. But, I would really enjoy it if you guys _did _spend some quality time together. We can have a girls' night, too. I've been itching for one of those."

Alice nodded and smiled wickedly. "Good idea!" She grabbed Esme's arm and dragged her up the stairs, into the room where Rosalie was. Her thoughts reeked of girliness, and I quickly evaded them. That left Carlisle, Emmett, Jasper and I, sitting in the living room.

"Let's do it!" Emmett cried, and high fived Jasper enthusiastically. "Let's do… ummmm… is there a game on?"

My eyes dashed to the clock. "Probably not. Charlie wouldn't have taken her out tonight if there was any game of interest on, and I'm positive of that."

Emmett launched himself across the living room and collapsed on the hardwood floor, flipping through various games to various game _systems _that I'd used rarely in my time in the house. Which wasn't all that often anymore.

"What's _this?_" he questioned, holding up a game with an almost promising cover. There was a man holding a gun, and his helmet's golden tint prevented you from seeing his eyes.

"That's Halo 2," Jasper informed him with a wild look on his face. Carlisle grinned, and Emmett let out a cry of joy.

"YES!"

* * *

Okay. So I'm a geek. I'm an all-around kind of girl, you know? Drama club, sports, writing … video games. I own the shit out of Halo 2, thank you very much. I haven't played in a while, but somehow today I got in a conversation with some of my guy friends about it. And then I was sitting there thinking… holy shit, how would the Cullen boys deal with playing a game like Halo? And I _had _to write about it.

Please review, Reviewer Demigods. For some reason isn't liking me and isn't sending me alerts, but review anyway!

lovies,  
steph.


	2. Halo 2

If you want to continue being part of the ranks of the Demigods, I demand that you read "Dead Line" by AuthorDream4Life, an incredibly amazing author. Seriously. You will not regret doing this. And you will remain a Demigod. I will KNOW if you do not read it, BELIEVE me, and I will NOT accept you as my Demigod any longer. FYI. Just so you know.

Boys' Night In

Various things were flying up from the small box filled with controllers and wires of the sort, including a reasonable amount of dust. Emmett, however, was not fazed by this in the slightest: he looked like a small child on Christmas, opening the CD case and fumbling to get it into the XBOX itself.

When it stammered to life, his eyes glassed over. "It's beautiful," he breathed.

Had I been near him, I'd have smacked him, but Jasper threw a pillow at his head and laughed. "Fascinated by technology?" he questioned, giving me a side-glance that made me chuckle as well.

"No," Emmett exhaled, and pointed to the back of the CD case. "_Look!_"

Carlisle, who was closest to him, connecting the audio cords to the back of the TV, leant in to admire whatever Emmett was gaping at. Upon seeing it, he gave Emmett a look worthy of an unintelligent first grader. "Yes," he encouraged, "that would be a sniper rifle. A very large gun."

There was a moment of silence. "I know what I want for Christmas."

We were startled into laughter, and then we each held a controller, entering the wonderful world of the United States Marine Core in the year 2025. The first thing I saw was a bunch of odd looking aliens, and one was being branded, or so it seemed. Emmett was completely enthralled, and I saw Jasper beginning to get excited. Carlisle looked indifferent, and I let out a short snort.

Emmett didn't move. Jasper jerked his head in my direction, but then turned back to the TV, clearly captivated. Carlisle was the only one who met my eyes and smiled. _At least we're spending time together_, he thought, and I nodded curtly in agreement.

And then the game was starting, all of a sudden. "Whoa!" Jasper cried, and nearly dropped the controller. "How do I _use _this?! What's going on—guns!"

Emmett took a brief moment to explain how to navigate through this video game world, how to jump, and how to maneuver your character correctly.

I acquired two guns, and was following what seemed like the Sergeant. Clearly, I was the only one with enough hand-eye coordination to play this game, except for maybe Emmett, who was easily keeping up with me. Jasper was still looking exasperatedly at the remote, and then the TV—_what the hell is going on?_—and Carlisle was staring at his controller wordlessly, trying to process how to survive in this game.

Suddenly, I wasn't walking anymore—I had an aerial view of my character lying on the ground, bleeding.

It didn't take me long to realize that Jasper had shot me in the back.

"Jasper!" I exclaimed, and smacked him on the shoulder. "You shot _me_."

He blinked. "Aren't I supposed to?"

"No, you shoot the _aliens._"

"_Aliens_? Since when have there been _aliens_? What the hell?!"

"In the _game_! You don't shoot the Marines, you shoot the _aliens!_"

"Wait, wha—"

"HOLY HELL!" Emmett interrupted us, and he was leaning over the side of the couch, staring intently at the screen. "LOOK AT THOSE THINGS! OH, MY GOD! STUPID LITTLE ALIENS—I'LL _KILL _THEM!"

I let out a choked laugh but manned my gun as Jasper gathered his bearings next to me. Carlisle was still staring at his controller, silent, occasionally glancing up at the TV screen. I was going to say something, but I couldn't get his thoughts clearly _and _kick alien ass at the same time, so I couldn't try to figure out what he was thinking.

"AAAAAAH!" Emmett screeched, and he animatedly leant all the way to the right, slamming into Jasper, whose finger hit the trigger by accident, managing to kill me _again_. I let out a growl and glared at Jasper, who only wordlessly pointed to Emmett, who was too intrigued by blue alien guts to respond to my glaring.

"Alright, alright," Jasper breathed after I was alive again, and he was clutching the controls a little too tightly. "I can do this. I think I have the main controls—"

On the screen, my very own personal Master Chief collapsed into a pool of his own blood.

"Shit," Jasper swore, and looked at me with a slight smile. "Sorry. Alright, be_sides_ the randomly killing Edward part, I've got the controls down."

My character came back to life, and I noticed Carlisle still motionless next to me.

"WHOA!" Emmett shouted, and leant again, only the other way. "AHHH! BACK UP, BACK UP—MAYDAY! WE HAVE A PROBLEM. JASPER, EDWARD, _CARLISLE!_ I NEED HELP!"

"_Emmett_," Jasper snapped, "we don't need the screaming."

"I'm _sorry!_" he wailed. "Just don't let me _die! _I don't want to _die!_"

If I'd had blood, it would've been pulsing in my ears as I pulled the trigger and let aliens die around me.

"I wonder what the blue blood would taste like," Jasper wondered aloud, and I had to agree with him there.

"JESUS CHR—DID YOU JUST SEE WHAT HAPPENED?" Emmett roared, pointing to the TV. "There's a _million _of them! HOW DO WE GET AROUND THAT?!"

Now Jasper was panicky, but very good with the controls. The three of us slowly walked into the room with all the aliens, and the first thing that happened—_what a surprise­—_Jasper shot me in the back.

"JASPER! STOP SHOOTING ME!"

There was a second of silence.

"I did that one on purpose."

"Shit, SHIT! They're SHOOTING AT US!"

"EMMETT!"

"_EDWARD!_"

"…Carlisle?"

Just as Jasper said this, a tiny little coneheaded alien shot him down. Directly after, we saw another Master Chief emerge from the dust and blue-blooded bodies—and it was Carlisle. He sniped out every one of the aliens with ridiculous accuracy and saved all of us from the lurking doom that was the Covenant.

"I always kinda wanted to do that," he admitted. "Stay behind… and then save the day."

Silence.

"Ooookaaay," Emmett mumbled, and then walked over to shut the XBOX off. "What's next?"

Jasper stood, threw his controller back in the little box, and grabbed an odd looking instrument. "What's this?"

Next to me, Carlisle let out an excited noise that can be explained as nothing other than a squeal. He squeed and literally flew off the couch. "NO WAY! SINCE WHEN DID WE HAVE THIS?!"

Frightened, I shunned away from my father figure. "Carlisle…?"

"YOU NEVER TOLD ME WE HAD _GUITAR HERO!_"

* * *

**Lynnzee** totally gets the credit for making them play Guitar Hero… and another game they will play in later chapters XD.

I am going to have SO MUCH FUN with this story. FYI. I had TONS of fun here.

Oh, and yeah, this is going to be way out of character. Just so you know haha!

AGAIN. READ "Dead Line" OR I AM DISOWNING YOU AS A DEMIGOD. IT IS WORTH YOUR TIME.

Review, por favor! (:

steph.


	3. Guitar Hero II

"Oh, God," Jasper muttered under his breath, dropping the guitar and fleeing back to the couch, and I immediately understood why he would react in such a way—Carlisle had leapt on top of the toy guitar and was stroking its neck gently, murmuring things that we couldn't hear. Emmett was searching for the game console—something different than XBOX; Playstation II—but was noticing the noises Carlisle was making, occasionally looking over his shoulder and giving us amused glances.

"What are you doing?" Carlisle asked nervously as Emmett took the guitar from his hands.

"Chill out, Carlisle," he soothed, "I'm just plugging it in. Do you want to go first?"

Carlisle seemed to think for a moment. "Yes, please."

"Okay, that's fine." Emmett took to plugging the guitar in, turned the console on, and we watched as it jumped to life.

I leant over and whispered to Jasper, "What do you do in this one?"

He shrugged his shoulders and asked Emmett to toss him the case for the game. As we read it, I felt my senses ignite—just press a bunch of buttons and pretend to play the guitar. This was certainly something I could beat Carlisle at, if not Emmett; and there was no possible way for Jasper to shoot me in this one.

"This is only Guitar Hero II," Emmett informed us, still glancing at Carlisle oddly, "so there aren't that many great songs. However, I'm sure we can seriously kick some booty at this… all it takes is a bit of hand-eye coordination, and rhythm. I already downloaded all the bonus songs, I can't remember when, though."

But Carlisle was already into it. He'd chosen a song from a section affectionately titled Face-Melters Encore; "Free Bird," by Lynyrd Skynyrd, one of my favorites by them. He put it on expert, and I felt my excitement build—how much disappointment could one three-hundred-year-old vampire take?

The song began, and any doubt I'd ever had in Carlisle immediately evaporated.

His fingers _flew _across the fake guitar, and he managed to stand up and jam out while he did it. The screen flew by as he matched every single mark on the screen with the tab on the guitar, and my mouth dropped. How much free time did the damn vampire have?

Jasper leant over and tapped on my shoulder, and I turned and met his eyes. "What the hell?" he asked, and I shrugged my shoulders.

Unexpectedly, Carlisle jerked the guitar one way and the onscreen crowd exploded into cheers. "Daaaaaamn!" Emmett whistled appreciatively, and then, with a wicked glint in his eye, stood in the way of the TV, looking proud.

It took him moments more than Jasper and I to realize that Carlisle still hadn't messed up once.

The song continued as we stared, open-mouthed and wide-eyed, as our father shredded the daylights out of arguably the hardest song on Guitar Hero II, on expert. When it was finally finished, and Carlisle was done rocking and reliving his glory days, we discovered that he'd literally _flawlessly _completed the song, half of it with Emmett obscuring his view.

We didn't speak when he returned to his spot on the couch, leaving the guitar on the floor in front of it. He turned to us, but we were still speechless.

Emmett began to clap from behind Jasper and I, and slowly, the two of us picked up, still awed.

Carlisle laughed. "Oh, come _on_, I'm not _that _old."

We didn't speak.

"I want to go next!" Emmett screamed, and jumped for the guitar.

"Oh, no, you don't!" Jasper exclaimed, and jumped on top of it first, rolling out of the way and darting behind the couch. Emmett followed quickly, leaping on top of our brother and tumbling with him across the room.

Carlisle and I watched calmly, if not with amusement.

"You _girl!_" Emmett shouted at Jasper, and began to pull his hair.

Jasper scooted away from him and batted him easily with the guitar. From the bookshelf, he threw a giant dictionary at his brother's head. "PANSY!" he retorted, and slid underneath the piano, which is where I had to draw the line.

"HEEEEY!" I shouted, and jumped up, standing between them with my hands outstretched. "WHEN YOU GO NEAR THE PIANO, I THREATEN YOUR LIVES." The silence that filled the room was nice, and I calmed down a bit. "There _is _a way to solve this."

Carlisle stood up and came beside me. "Precisely. Whoever can answer the question correctly gets a cookie."

I turned and stared at him.

"Oh, right, sorry—gets to play first."

I nodded. "And the question is…"

Carlisle thought for a moment. "What _is?_"

Emmett began to rub the top of his head, and Jasper put a finger to his lips. "What… _is?_" he turned the question over his head, it seemed. Carlisle's thoughts simply read _I have no clue in hell_, and Emmett was thinking along the lines if word structure, while Jasper took a more… philosophical route.

"I think what _isn't _would be a better question, no? What _is_… _everything _is. Is is existence; is is _living_."

Carlisle turned to Emmett. "What _is?_" he muttered. "Is… is… something everyone is, or something everyone needs…" he looked up at Carlisle from his place on the floor. "Umm… bread."

Jasper jumped in. "Apples!"

"Very small rocks!" Emmett countered.

"Cider!"

"Gravy!"

"Cherries."

"Mud—"

"Churches!"

"LEAD! LEAD!"

I raised a palm and looked at all three of them. "A duck."

Carlisle looked at me and nodded. "Exactly. So, logically…"

"If she weighed the same as a duck…" Emmett said, and he and Jasper looked at each other, and I took this as my opportunity to sneak away and man the guitar, "… she's made of wood?"

"And therefore…"

"A WITCH!" Jasper shouted, and pointed to me, flying over the side of the couch and grabbing onto my head.

"JASPER!" I roared, "CUT IT OUT! I'm in the middle of a game!"

I'd picked "Surrender" by Cheap Trick, one of the easier songs, and set it on easy. I was very, very surprised when I found I could hardly struggle through even the beginning of the song—my hands did _not _want to move on the tabs, though they were quick piano fingers. Eventually, I gave up, and chose a different song.

"Sweet Child O' Mine" by Guns N' Roses. That sounded promising enough—another one of my favorite songs from olden days. It was in section four of eight—Thrash and Burn Encore—and I set it on expert, just to challenge myself.

I flew through the song easily, earning appreciative glances from Jasper and Emmett. Carlisle merely scoffed. I frowned at him.

"MYYYYY TUUUUUURN!" Jasper shouted, snagged the guitar from me, and picked "Crazy on You" by Heart.

He set it on expert as well, but found that he struggled worse than I had. "Wait, what the hell? My fingers don't want to move." He looked down at his left hand. "This feels wrong…"

"Oh," Carlisle perked up, looking at Jasper. "You're a lefty, right? You have to put it on lefty flip." He shut the song off and, with skill, navigated through the game. He changed a setting and gave the guitar wordlessly back to Jasper. Jasper found "Crazy on You" again and started the song.

He blew through it like it was second nature. "I'm a lefty, and I'm proud," he said, grinning as he got 100 on the game.

"Pff, you're all noobs," Emmett scoffed, and chose "Free Bird" on expert just as Carlisle had. However, the song was still on lefty flip, and he didn't know this.

He managed on the lefty setting, doing just as good as Carlisle had done, with the handicap of the lefty flip. However, when he reached the end, he screwed up wonderfully, and got so frustrated that he slammed the guitar on the ground and began to throw a tantrum like a four-year-old.

"NOT FAIR!" he shouted, and if he could've been crying, he would've been, "NOT FREAKING FAIR! I JUST WANTED TO BEAT CARLISLE AT SOMETHING FOR ONCE! AND NOW I HAVE TO LOSE BECAUSE OF STUPID JASPER AND THE STUPID LEFTY FLIP. GOD JAPSER, I HATE YOU SO MUCH! NOT. FAAAAIIR!"

Next to me, Carlisle stifled his laughter with a cough. "What's next?" he questioned, clearly hiding his despair for the loss of the guitar.

"What's this thing?" I asked, pointing to a large box that said _Rock Band _on it.

Jasper squealed—holy _shit_, not him _too_—and flew over to the box. "OHMIGOD! I LOVE THIS GAME!" he tore the box open, and began to set it up. I felt myself shudder with excitement as I saw the microphone.

* * *

Here's my own Guitar Hero story: I'm a lefty, and I'm proud. However, I do most things with my right hand. I write with my left, eat with my left, cut with scissors with my left, and do a few other routine things with my left. However, I bat righty, field hockey righty… all that stuff. So, I was playing _Guitar Hero _as a righty, and failed. Then I discovered the land of lefty flip… I heard the bells on that day.

If anyone can name what movie I quoted in here—which I do not own—you get cookies.

REVIEWSKI, Demigods.

OH AND BY THE WAY. Only like two of you read the fucking story like I said to… so you all suck. ): Just kidding… but THOSE OF YOU who didn't read it, you're not a Demigod any longer. I could list off USERNAMES, but I WON'T, because I don't want to embarrass you guys.

By the way part dos… I was cast as Gabriella in High School Musical. I don't really like HSM, but it's exciting anyway :D So that means… slightly slower updates; my apologies!


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